1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cooking apparatus and, more particularly, to a cooking apparatus, in which a lamp assembly having lamps is mounted on an upper portion of a front panel located at a front end of a cooing cavity, thereby not only illuminating the cooking cavity, but also allowing the lamps to be conveniently and quickly replaced.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, cooking apparatuses, such as a microwave oven and an electrical oven, are provided with cooking cavities therein and cook food in the cooking cavities by radiating microwaves, or heat that is generated by electrical heaters, to the food.
Other cooking apparatuses use overheated steam to uniformly heat food by supplying the overheated steam to cooking cavities, thus preventing the food from being locally burned, and to allow a cooking temperature to be easily adjusted by adjusting a temperature of and an amount of the overheated steam, thus improving the taste of the cooked food.
In the cooking apparatuses, lamp assemblies having lamps are mounted inside the cooking cavities to illuminate the cooking cavities and, thus, allow users to observe food being cooked. When the lamp assemblies are mounted inside the cooking cavities as described above, the structures of the lamp assemblies become complicated, and it is difficult, and requires excessive time, to replace the lamps.
Furthermore, when lamp assemblies are mounted inside the cooking cavities of the cooking apparatuses, openings are provided through inside walls of the cooking cavities. Heat is easily discharged from the cooking cavities through the openings and, thus, energy is lost. Additionally, because the lamp assemblies are mounted inside the cooking cavities, the cooking cavities cannot have curved shapes.